Zé Castro

Football player infobox|
playername= Zé Castro
fullname = José Eduardo Rosa Vale e Castro
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1983|1|13
cityofbirth = Coimbra
countryofbirth = Portugal
height = height|m=1.83
nickname =
currentclub = Deportivo La Coruña
clubnumber = 5
position = Defender
youthyears = ?-2003
youthclubs = Académica Coimbra
years = 2003–2006
2006–2008
2008-
clubs = Académica Coimbra
Atlético Madrid
Deportivo La Coruña (loan)
caps(goals) = - (-)
22 (2)
0 (0)
nationalyears = 2004-2006
nationalteam = Portugal U-21
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 22 July 2007
ntupdate = 22 July 2007

Zé Castro, fullname José Eduardo Rosa Vale e Castro (born 13 January 1983 in Coimbra), is a Portuguese football central defender who currently plays for Deportivo La Coruña in the Spanish La Liga. Castro played for the main team of his hometown, Académica Coimbra in the Portuguese SuperLiga between 2003 and 2006. He had been previously a youth system player of Académica de Coimbra since childhood.

Club career

Académica de Coimbra

At Coimbra, Castro impressed as captain of the squad despite his young age. After the 2006 season was over, he had offers from Celtic FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and Sport Lisboa e Benfica.

Atlético Madrid

In the 2006 off-season, he signed for Atlético Madrid, Spain, and, due to injuries to teammates, and irregular form of the team, he found himself on the pitch more than expected and scoring two goals, cementing a bright future for him, at the age of 24. He has been linked with a move to Sporting Lisbon.

Deportivo La Coruña

In the summer of 2008 Ze Castro joined fellow La Liga side Deportivo on loan for a season. Deportivo has a buyout clause of €2 million for the 50% of his rights (the remaining 50% is owned by a company.).

International career

Since an early age, Castro was a regular player of the Portuguese national youth teams, but has yet to debut for the first team.